Residential College Scholarships

At Trinity, scholarships help cover the cost of some students’ college fees and are designed to make Trinity College more accessible to those who otherwise may not be able to afford to attend. Our scholarships are funded by generous donations from former Trinity students and/or philanthropists. Our donors are passionate about giving deserving students the opportunity to enjoy and benefit from Trinity's collegiate experience. 

The majority of Trinity College scholarships are partial scholarships (which cover some of your fees), but we do offer a small number of full scholarships every year. Full scholarships are awarded based on extreme financial need, while partial scholarships help make college more affordable, and students often supplement their partial scholarship by taking on a part-time job for example.

Note: scholarships are awarded for a full academic year and all students are expected to re-apply on an annual basis.  

We will consider the application of anyone who can demonstrate financial need. To do this, you’ll need to submit a scholarship application form and evidence of family income, which may include proof of parental income, evidence of savings, and other financial documents. We will then use this documentation to assess your application and decide what kind of scholarship, if any, we can provide to help make Trinity more affordable for you.

We consider students from all backgrounds for our scholarships. If you are from a rural or regional area, are of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent, are a refugee, or have challenging personal or financial circumstances, for example, we would welcome a scholarship application from you.

We will assess your application based on a set of criteria.

Things we take into consideration are your family circumstances (including household income, the number of dependents in your family, and household savings), your personal circumstances (based on the personal statement you supply as part of the application process), the references you supply as part of your residency application, and your course of study.

No, there is no need to apply for a particular scholarship or scholarship amount. All you need to do is to submit a general scholarship application form, along with the required supporting documentation. We will assess your application in full and decide which, if any, scholarship you are most suited to.

You may be eligible for (and may be successful in attaining) multiple scholarships, but again, this will be decided as part of the overall scholarship application process, and we may combine scholarship amounts if we feel you would benefit from multiple partial scholarships.

Scholarships generally apply to one academic year. Our scholarships hinge on academic performance and ongoing contributions to the residential community, so students must re-apply for their scholarship each year. If you are successful in attaining a scholarship at Trinity College, you will receive details about how to re-apply when your scholarship is about to expire.

Residential College applications for all students, (new and returning), open at 9am Melbourne time on 1 June. Applications received during this period will be assessed for students starting at Trinity College the following year. 

Note: you need to apply to live at Trinity College before applying for a scholarship. This is because we process residential applications before scholarship applications.

Scholarship applications need to be submitted separately, and close on 15 October each year.

So, if you're planning on applying for a scholarship, make sure you submit your Residential College application first, before 15 October.

We understand that you may be nervous about applying to live at Trinity College without knowing whether you’ll have a scholarship or not (and, therefore, you might not know if you’ll be able to afford the fees), but rest assured, you will not be locked into any College fees should your scholarship application be unsuccessful, and we will be happy to talk through your payment and living options.

ABSTUDY is available to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students who are enrolled in full-time tertiary study. ABSTUDY covers compulsory fees. Both the Dhumbali Camp at Trinity College and subsequent O Week for new residents at Trinity College are compulsory charges for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents and thus can be covered by ABSTUDY. For ABSTUDY to cover your College fees, please be sure to select the ‘residential cost' option.

Please note, if you were an ABSTUDY recipient in high school, you are not automatically eligible for ABSTUDY at university. You will need to submit a new application, so we recommend getting this process underway as soon as possible (and at least 13 weeks before starting your first year at Trinity College).

Trinity has a dedicated Indigenous Support Officer who will be able to guide you through this process. If you need assistance, email residentialcollege@trinity.unimelb.edu.au

If you’re interested in donating to our scholarship program to help give more deserving young people the chance to attend Trinity College, please visit our donation page or contact our Advancement team on advancement@trinity.unimelb.edu.au

Read our donor profile on Dr Susan Lim.

Step 1: Make a residency application to Trinity College. If you are a Youth Allowance recipient, you do not need to pay the application fee. Note, we cannot consider your scholarship application until we receive your residency application.

Step 2: Complete and return our scholarship application form, along with evidence to support your application. Details about supporting documentation can be found on the form.

Still have questions? Contact residentialcollege@trinity.unimelb.edu.au